Phoenix was the final stop of the Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest startup tour. And what a grand finale, brilliantly hosted at The Duce! We heard fantastic pitches from the eight finalists: Ava School Solutions, CBL Worldwide II, Crowdmics, Hopscratch, MSDx, NeoLight, Reply Buy and SMART Brain Aging.

Celebrating American Entrepreneurship, Steve Case, Chairman & CEO of Revolution and former Co-Founder & CEO of AOL, embarked on a 5 day tour to 5 cities, as a nationwide effort to work closely with entrepreneurs in emerging startup ecosystems.

Rise of the Rest is a platform run by Washington, D.C. – based venture capital firm, Revolution. It embodies Revolution’s investment philosophy that startup ecosystems in all American cities have never been more robust, more vibrant and more focused on building the innovative companies of tomorrow. This is the beginning of a new era for entrepreneurship across the U.S. — high-growth companies can now start and scale anywhere, not just in a few coastal cities.